Devasena played by Anushka Shetty in Baahubali and Veer played by Salman Khan in Veer share a common connection. Any guesses?

SS Rajamouli’s historical fantasy epic Baahubali: The Conclusion is now the first Indian film to have garnered Rs 1,000 crore on its own soil. The sequel to Baahubali: The Beginning revolves around the tussle between warring cousins for the throne of Mahishmati kingdom. Prabhas essays double role of Amarendra Baahubali and his son Mahendra Baahubali. Anushka Shetty plays Devasena, the warrior princess who is Amarendra’s wife and Mahendra’s mother. The 35-year-old actress has received accolades for portraying the role of Devasena in her young and old age. Now, we are going to hint at something that will leave you shocked. What if we tell you that Devasena might have a distant connection with Salman Khan’s character in a film. For those readers who are yet to watch the film, the facts contain spoilers.

Devasena is the princess of Kuntala kingdom that faces threat from Pindaris, a group of dacoits who are notorious for killing all the people in a kingdom they attacks. As per the plot, Kuntala is attacked by the invaders and it is Amarendra Baahubali’s valour that wards them away. Now, die-hard Salman Khan fans (not Tubelights please) will be instantly reminded of the actor’s role of a Pindari prince in 2010 period drama Veer.

Salman Khan essayed the role of a Pindari prince Veer Pratap Singh in the Anil Sharma directorial that was set in the backdrop of British rule in India. Veer takes a wow to drive the British out of the kingdom of Madhavgarh and the entire India. This raises a question? Were the Pindaris the same tribe that attacked Kuntala in Baahubali 2 and then armed against the British rule. Not at all.

According to Philip McEldowney, a US-based academician in his thesis on Pindaris, wrote:

The Pindaris came into prominence during the late 19th century and were soon transformed into off-shoots of the armies in India. However, their history is quite controversial.

Basically, they were a group of cavalry mostly attached to an army and assigned the task of plundering the enemy state. They probably rose in the Deccan plateau near Bidar (present day Karnataka) and then settled in a region locally known as Pandhar. In the last years of their existencem they mostly plundered areas for their own purposes irrespective of the fact whether it was an enemy land or not.

McEldowney in his study quoted a British resident Captain Sydenham who in 1810 estimated the population of this tribe to be roughly around 30,000. Moreover, Wikipedia cites the existence of Devasena’s Kuntala kingdom between 10th and 12th century AD. It is rightly concluded that both the Pindaris in the above films were different groups.